Black Sheep Bounty Hunter: A Texas Bounty Novel

by Jackie Ashenden

Quinn forced himself to merely nod. “Okay, keep the pressure up. We’re also going to need a backup plan if it takes time to track this asshole down. Two days is fuck all.”

  It really was, especially when they had to move carefully since they were all apparently being watched by whoever was blackmailing Lily.

  There was a commotion near the door and everyone turned as the entire Duchess Bail Bonds team came into the bar, talking loudly.

  Excellent. Now they could get this planning show on the road and then he could get Lily upstairs, naked, and into his goddamn bed.

  And not before time. Dressed in a kind of filmy black shirt with a narrow black pencil skirt, black patent heels on her feet and bright red lipstick, she looked strong, tough and sexy as fuck as she strode in, her team behind her.

  Christ, he wanted her wearing nothing but those heels, her legs wrapped around his waist or maybe draped over his shoulders, he didn’t care, he wasn’t fussy. Any way that would get them both off was fine with him.

  Predictably, the hard-on that he’d just successfully dismissed returned with a vengeance. Dammit.

  Rush had launched himself out of the booth already, grinning manically, his arms wide in welcome. “Avengers assemble! Time for a party!”

  “No,” Lily said coolly, stopping Rush in his tracks. “It’s time for a meeting.”

  “Aw, lame.” Rush glanced back at Quinn. “Guess we need some refreshments then, hmm?”

  Quinn moved out of the booth, mentally telling the more stupid parts of his anatomy to calm the fuck down. “Yeah, get some beers,” he said to his brother, though he couldn’t drag his gaze from Lily’s

  Jesus, the woman was not only a bonafide bad-ass, she was also a clear and present danger to his ongoing mental health. Especially wearing what she was wearing and standing in front of her team like she was going to morph into the Terminator and kill anyone who dared to oppose her.

  Sexy. As. Fuck.

  Her blue eyes were cool, as she habitually was, but he could see the blush rising beneath her pale skin, evidence of passionate Lily beneath her Duchess armor. He wanted to smile at her, coax Lily out to play, but now was not the time for it. Not with her team standing behind her, their expressions ranging from curiosity (Rose) to outright suspicion (West). Except for Rhys, who looked completely blank, and Smith, Nora’s biker boyfriend who just happened to be an MC president and who stood behind Nora, a permanent scowl etched on his rough features. Completely normal in other words.

  The only one he didn’t know was the lovely looking brunette with hazel eyes who stood next to Rhys, and who was probably Vivi, Rhys’s girlfriend.

  He gave them all a nod. “Glad you could make it.”

  “Of course,” Rose said, looking him up and down, frankly appraising, though he had no idea why when she knew him already. “Lily told us what was happening and we’re all here to help her.”

  Quinn didn’t miss the slight emphasis on the word ‘her’. Which was fine. That’s who he was for, too.

  He opened his mouth to start calling the meeting to order, but then the brunette said casually, before he could get a word out, “I’m here for Duchess, as well.” She smiled. “If you need a lawyer that is. I’m Vivi, by the way.”

  A lawyer. How handy.

  “I’m sure we will at some point,” he said. “I’m Quinn Redmond. Nice to meet you.” He didn’t bother holding out his hand, not with Rhys standing possessively next to Vivi giving out major ‘touch her and I’ll kill you’ vibes.

  He settled for a brief smile instead, before sweeping another gaze out over the assembled team. “Are we all ready?”

  “Milkshake anyone?” Zane asked from behind the bar.

  “Oh, me, please” Rose piped up. “Especially if you put some alcohol in it.”

  Five minutes later, no meeting was happening, though several people were clustered around the bar as Zane made alcoholic milkshakes, while Iris shooed Jamie away for dinner and then bed. Rush was in full flight with Rhys as he pulled beers out from the fridge behind the bar, Smith leaning alongside him and making an occasional comment.

  Quinn had gone back to the booth seat and was sitting with Lily opposite, not at all interested in the chatter of conversation going on, his attention entirely focused on the woman across him.

  “So it all went well from the looks of things,” he commented, watching her lovely, pale face. “I was right about them, wasn’t I?”

  “Of course you were.” Her gaze was on her hands, clasped tightly in front of her. “They were pissed off I hadn’t told them about all of this sooner, but I explained and … Well, they want this asshole off my back as much as I do.”

  She seemed tense so he reached out and put his hand over hers to soothe her, but as he did so, she tensed even further.

  He frowned. “What?”

  “Nothing.” She glanced at the rest of her team who were very pointedly not paying attention to either of them sitting in the booth, then began to withdraw her hands from underneath his.

  What the hell? She didn’t want him touching her in public?

  He pressed down slightly so she couldn’t pull away. “Lily.” He kept his voice soft but firm.

  Her gaze flicked to his, blue eyes cool; Duchess clearly in charge once again. “Don’t, Quinn. Not now.”

  “What? You don’t want me to touch you?”

  “Not when it undermines my position.”

  “Mind telling me how touching your hand undermines your position?”

  She glanced away again, her expression outwardly calm. “We might be sleeping together, but I can’t afford anything that makes me look weak in front of them. Especially now.”

  Well, that was bullshit. Sex didn’t mean weakness and he had a suspicion that every single one of her team would agree. No, this was something else.

  “This isn’t about your fucking position,” he growled, keeping his hand where it was. “What’s really going on?”

  Her jaw was tight and so were her shoulders, and he could feel the tension in the small hands under his. It made him want to reach across the table, gather her into his arms and take her upstairs, hold her and stroke her and look after her until she relaxed. Until she became Lily again, the way she had last night.

  “I need to go back to my apartment tonight,” she said, her voice cool.

  “Absolutely fucking not.”

  She turned to look at him and he could see her strong, stubborn will glowing in her eyes. “I have to. They know you’re helping me and that means you and your family are in their sights. And I don’t want that. The focus needs to stay on me.”

  “That’s not—”

  “If anything happens to them,” Lily said forcefully. “I will never forgive myself. Do you understand?”

  Oh yeah, he did.

  And this is when it’s going to get tough, isn’t it? Your protective streak and will coming up against hers.

  Shit, it wasn’t just tough. It was deeply problematic. Because he didn’t like to give in and he certainly didn’t like to lose. And neither did she. Compromise wasn’t up for debate either, not when there was danger in the air around them. Threats of violence had already been made against Rose and he had no doubt that his family would also be in the firing line.

  Luckily for Rose, she had West and the whole of the Duchess team, and his family had…Well. You’d have to be fucking insane to come up against the Redmonds.

  “You don’t have to worry about us.” He squeezed her hands fingers, letting her know he wasn’t going anywhere. “We take care of our own, believe me. And I will take care of you, too.”

  But she only looked away from him again. “Can we discuss this after the meeting? That’s what we’re all here for after all.”

  He couldn’t argue with that, though he wanted to. Wanted to wipe that Duchess look right off her face with a good, hard kiss. Make her remember who she really was inside, warm, soft Lily. Who’d wanted to be taken care of, even though she pretended that she didn’t.
And whom he wanted to take care of if only she would let him.

  But she was right. Now wasn’t the time, not when they had something much more important to handle first. One thing was for sure, though; he wasn’t letting her just waltz off to her apartment on her own. And he definitely wasn’t letting the issue of him touching her in front of other people slide. They would be discussing it, she could be sure of that.

  You’re getting a little too involved, asshole. A little too possessive. Take it down a notch.

  Shit, not wrong. He cared about her sure, but this kind of emotional bullshit was not where he wanted to head, not with her.

  “Fine,” he said, forcing his feelings away and lifting his hands. “Get your people and let’s talk.”

  It took a good ten minutes but finally he and Duchess managed to get them all arrayed around one of the tables, and once they were, the meeting proved less problematic than Quinn had thought.

  With Lily firmly in Duchess-mode, she gave a calm, cool rundown of the facts so everyone was on the same page, including the current escalation of the threat and the two day time period.

  Then she inclined her head toward Quinn, clearly indicating for him to give his take on where the Redmonds were at with it. He was interrupted briefly in the middle of it by Ava wandering sleepily into the meeting, but it was good timing because then she and Rush were able to talk about what they’d managed to track down. Ava had sneakily managed to pull up the police files covering Mason’s death, but nothing there had shed light onto who could potentially be blackmailing Lily. Rush added his information about the source he was pressuring, but wouldn’t reveal it to anyone, not even when West scowled at him across the table.

  “What about Mason’s family?” Zane asked after Rush had finished speaking. “Anyone thought to look at them?”

  “I did,” Lily said coolly. “In fact, they were the first thing I looked into. But he’s an only child. And his parents are dead.”

  “What about friends?” Nora narrowed her gaze in Lily’s direction. “Any buddies that might want to get a little revenge?”

  Lily shook her head, frowning. “None I could see who were close enough to want to do that. I supposed it’s possible, but when I first started looking into this, I couldn’t find anyone connected to him at all.”

  “We probably need to look into this in more depth.” Zane met Lily’s cool gaze. “I’m sure you did all you could, Duchess, but we have different contacts. And it’s worth us seeing what we can find independent of you.”

  “Of course,” she said. “But bear in mind that we’re being watched. He or she knows that I’m getting help and I don’t want them getting spooked by a sudden influx of questions in various places about Mason.”

  “Yes,” Quinn said. “That’s a concern.”

  “Then they’re probably not going to be all that chill about the whole of Duchess Bail Bonds suddenly swarming into Lone Star,” Rush pointed out.

  There was a silence.

  “Hey,” he went on, lifting his hands. “Just saying.”

  “Fuck,” Smith muttered. “Dude’s got a point.”

  “Yes,” Rhys agreed. “He has.”

  “Then that makes it even more important that we start tracking this asshole down,” Quinn said, because yes, Rush did have a point. And he should have thought of it. Then another thought occurred to him. “We need to know what they want.”

  “Money,” Lily said. “That’s what I’m being asked for.”

  “No, I don’t think money is the entire point.” He stared at her. “There’s escalation in their demands. Eventually it’ll get to where you won’t be able to pay and they know that. Which means they want to ruin you. Take everything you have from you.”

  Another silence fell as everyone contemplated this.

  “Which makes it personal,” Quinn went on, because he’d been thinking about it at lot. And it was the only thing that made sense. “And that’s why they’ll never be satisfied with just money, no matter what you give them.”

  “Huh,” Rose muttered. “Well, of course it’s personal. If they’re connected with Mason, that makes perfect sense.”

  “But what if they’re not?” Rhys put in. “Maybe they’re not connected to Mason at all. We’ve been assuming it’s revenge for his death, but what if they were looking for dirt on Duchess and just happened to find that footage. What if the revenge they want is for something else entirely?”

  Zane muttered a curse and Quinn couldn’t blame him. That opened up another whole can of worms.

  Lily looked tired all of a sudden. She lifted a hand and rubbed at her temples. “Yeah, that’s something we need to consider. I hadn’t thought of that.”

  “Thanks for bringing that up,” Quinn growled at Rhys, though to be fair it wasn’t the ex-hitman’s fault. “Guess we’ll need to recalibrate some of our searches.”

  “Okay,” Lily said, still rubbing at her forehead. “All that aside, what you were saying about the money they want. Were you suggesting not paying them?”

  “Maybe.” Quinn paused, thinking. “Nothing is going to be enough for them and I have a feeling that they’ll send that footage out when they want, regardless of money.”

  “So where does it leave Duchess?” West demanded, scowling. “We need to find the asshole and fast.”

  “Maybe we need to call their bluff?” Lily dropped her hand from her forehead, surprisingly calm given what was at stake.

  Quinn met her gaze, noting the weariness in her eyes. Weariness that he was pretty sure was evident to no one but him. It made him want to call an end to the meeting, pick her up in his arms and take her away somewhere quiet, tell her that she could rest, that he would handle it.

  You’re getting more and more involved with every passing second.

  The thought was another warning he didn’t need so he ignored it.

  “Maybe,” he murmured, still staring at Lily. “Or we force them out into the open.”

  Her eyes widened slightly, but it wasn’t fear he saw there. No, it was the flicker of something more fierce than that. “And then what?”

  He smiled. “And then? Then we fuck them up.”

  Lily’s mouth twitched, her own smile there for him even though she was trying not to let it show.

  Around the table people erupted into comment, but Quinn had stopped listening. There was an ache in his chest at the smile she’d given him, and he wasn’t aware of anything but her gaze and the weariness it it. And his need to do something for her.

  He stepped away from the table, coming around to where she was standing opposite, and before she could move, he’d grabbed her arm. “‘Scuse us,” he said to the table at large, and gripping her tightly, strode with her out of bar and into the foyer.

  Then without a word, he backed her up against the wall, pressing her there with his body, feeling her softness and heat, watching the helpless desire swamp the tired look in her eyes and wash it clean away.

  She put her hands up, her palms flat on his chest, and there was a touch of resistance in them, but not much, more holding him at bay than pushing him away. And then her gaze fell to his mouth, as if she couldn’t help herself.

  “What are you doing?” she murmured.

  He had a feeling she wouldn’t take his care or soothing right now, but desire was something he could give her. Desire that took away her weariness.

  “What does it fucking look like?” He put his hands flat to the wall on either side of her head, then leaned in, leaning his forearms against it as he bent and took her mouth in a kiss he’d been dying to give her since the moment he’d left her in bed that morning.

  She shuddered, her lips parting, giving him a taste of all the wild sweetness that was deep at the core of her. “Are you undermining my position again?” she murmured against his mouth.

  “Call it a reminder of your position.” He flexed his hips against hers, pressing into the soft heat between her thighs, his cock already rock-hard and demanding. “Which is und
er me.”

  She gave another delicate little shudder, fueling the wildfire already burning out of control inside him. But then she said breathlessly, “I’m not sleeping here tonight, Quinn. I told you that already.” Her palms on his chest pushed at him. “So can we keep the macho bullshit to a minimum, please?”

  He nipped at her bottom lip, giving her just enough pressure to make her breath catch, but not enough for pain. “Fine. I can fuck you in your apartment as well as I can here.”

  She made a soft, needy sound deep in her throat. “West is going to stay with me. I won’t be alone.”

  Ah, okay. Was that how she was going to play this? Hold him at a distance, using West to allay his fears for her safety? Well, he had two words for that nonsense. Fuck. No.

  He didn’t question the intensity of his own need. Didn’t ask himself why this was so important. He only pressed her harder against the wall so she was surrounded by him, his heat and his scent. Making her aware of him and what she really wanted, not all the lies she kept telling herself.

  “Oh no, baby,” he murmured, nipping her bottom lip again, a little harder, letting her know he meant business. “You’re not doing this. I told you that once you were in my bed, you’re not going to be able to hold me at a distance anymore and I meant it. I’m not going to let you, understand? You’re mine now, for the duration.” He kissed her again, harder, sliding his tongue into her mouth and exploring her, tasting her deep. And she let out a gasp, arching into him, because no matter what she said about distance, she was as much a slave to their chemistry as he was.

  She moaned softly and he felt her nails dig into his chest through the cotton of his T-shirt. Then she pulled back, breathing fast. “I need some space.”

  But he could see the need in her eyes; it wasn’t space she wanted from him. And why she wouldn’t give him the truth, he didn’t know. Perhaps she was simply scared and didn’t want to admit it. Scared of the intensity of what burned between them.

  She’s right to be scared.

  Perhaps. But it was too late now. The physical and — he had to admit it — emotional chemistry had them both in its grip and there was no stopping it. They had to keep going, burn it out, because he was pretty sure that until that happened, he wasn’t going to be able to stay away from her.